Coleman to face Fanning in Tuesday runoff for Senate District 17

With just a day remaining before voters in state Senate District 17 head – again – to the polls, Sen. Creighton Coleman and challenger Mike Fanning both feel confident about Tuesday’s runoff.

District 17 includes parts of Chester, Fairfield and York counties. Fanning finished ahead in the York County precincts, which include the city of York and Rock Hill’s south side, in the June 14 primary but fell behind in Chester and Fairfield counties, while Coleman seemed to be just under the 50 percent needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

Tuesday’s runoff winner will face Republican Mark Palmer of York in November.

Fanning, a Great Falls resident and director of the Olde English Consortium, said winning a runoff is a matter of getting voters to come out and vote again rather than trying to sway their support, and he is counting on his campaign’s grassroots efforts to carry him through.

“York County brought it home on election night,” he said. “If Rock Hill had voted at the low rate that some of our other areas did, it looked not as fun for us. But when Rock Hill came in strong ... it made us very excited.”

Coleman, a Winnsboro-based attorney who was first elected to his seat in 2008, touts his experience and record serving in Columbia for the last eight years.

“I’ve been doing this a long time; you never know what’s gonna happen,” he said. “I’ve been working very hard and feel good about it ... and put it in the hands of the voters.”

Along with job creation, roads are the other key issue with District 17 voters, says Coleman, who supports raising the state’s gas tax to pay for road repairs. He expressed satisfaction that the General Assembly passed a roads bill but noted “it’s not what it should be.”

“Senate District 17 is very similar in a lot of ways,” he said. “Fairfield is having a tough time, Chester has been having a tough time but is starting to scratch and claw. We’ve got a good bit of economic development going on in Chester. Rock Hill is doing well, the city of York is doing well but could be doing better.”

Fanning says much of District 17 is “forgotten” compared with other parts of the state around it that are growing.

“Somebody needs to be fighting for the southern side of Rock Hill and Chester and the rest of the district that tends to be the forgotten part,” he said. “Blythewood ... was a little dot on the map. Lugoff-Elgin, a little dot on the map. Blythewood and Lugoff are some of the biggest booming communities in the state of South Carolina, (and they are) right next to the Fairfield part of that Senate District 17 line.”

Coleman is confident his record and service the last eight years will resonate with voters.

“We’ve tried to relay that,” he said. “I was just raised not to brag about what I’ve done. I could do better with letting people know what I’ve done. We’ve done a lot. Are we satisfied where we are? Absolutely not.”

Fanning says he talks education, taxes, roads and reform with voters, but one thing voters are “hungry for” is a relationship with their lawmakers.

“That’s what seems to be lacking in general,” he said. “Strom Thurmond and John Spratt – they’re both of different parties but it never mattered. When you saw one of those two and you happened to be of the opposite party, you still knew you could approach them. You knew you’d see them again when your church had an anniversary. You knew you had a relationship with that person.”

Voting in Tuesday’s runoff is open to anyone registered in Senate District 17 who either did not vote in the June 14 primary or voted in the Democratic primary.

Monday is the last day to vote absentee.

To check your polling location, visit http://www.yorkcountygov.com/registrationandelections.

This story was originally published June 26, 2016 at 9:22 PM with the headline "Coleman to face Fanning in Tuesday runoff for Senate District 17."